“This is obviously an attempt to sidestep the legislative process, and it’s really breaking the integrity of the legislative process.”

“It’s not this body’s job to fulfill the campaign promises of the governor. It’s their job to make tough decisions, tough policy decisions. They are just trying to railroad through something that they’ve never even heard. We’re confident that legislators will ask the hard questions. And that they are going to do what’s good for public safety, which is to keep this tool in place for law enforcement because that’s the key.

“This issue isn’t about drivers licenses. This issue is about politics and unfortunately immigrants are low-hanging fruit. There are a lot of issues that are really important in our communities. What we’ve seen is that people are showing up to these committee hearings, law enforfcement is showing up to these hearings.”

Allen Sanchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The governor needs to come to the table and do a compromise bill, something that allows compassion so we can think about these children graduating from our high schools. They won’t be able to get a license, that by no fault of their own that they end up in our country. Life is short. We’re going to get to the gates of heaven and Jesus is going to ask us, What did you do with all those poor people I sent you. The church is looking for a compromise. It is very sad to see this procedure take place, 35 years. To do a blast after 35 years, and they choose this issue. They’ve promised us a pro-life blast for the last seven years I’ve been here. They make this a priority over other vital issues.”

One Response to Opponents criticize House action

Thanks for covering this issue. Some interesting things in the quotes:

You can’t tell for which side law enforcement is showing up at the hearings.

The Catholic Church guy thinks making abortions more difficult is a vital issue for the legislature? Usually they are on the correct side of social justice issues. But they see the consequenses of unwanted and neglected children every day. I guess he’s too young to remember the back-alley ones when they were illegal.